Meanings
plural raw materials
- countableuncountableA material in its unprocessed, natural state considered usable for manufacture.
Petroleum is the raw material refined into various fuels and needed for countless chemicals.
1 more example
The three main firms […] are increasing their output capacity and it is estimated that by 1964-5 railborne traffic will be about a third greater than the 1960 figure, reaching a total of something like 13½ million tons per annum, of which some 70 per cent will be inwards raw materials for these firms.
1962 October 28, “Talking of Trains: New yard at Scunthorpe”, in Modern Railways, page 221 - countablefigurativelyuncountableAny physical product serving as input to a factory or other installation which processes it.
The assembly plant's raw materials are finished parts from Asian suppliers.
1 more example
Teams will place all their unassembled raw materials and tools in the competition area along with two provided 5-gallon buckets of contaminated water and two provided stirring sticks.
2024 October 28, “Water Treatment Competition”, in ASCE, page 11
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian суровина́
- суровина́ (suroviná)material in its unprocessed, natural state
Chinese Mandarin 原料, 原材料
- 原料 (yuánliào)material in its unprocessed, natural state
- 原材料 (yuáncáiliào)material in its unprocessed, natural state
- 原料 (yuánliào)input to an installation which processes it
- 原材料 (yuáncáiliào)input to an installation which processes it
Czech surovina
- surovinamaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Danish råstof
- råstofmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Dutch grondstof, grondstof
- grondstofmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- grondstofinput to an installation which processes it
Esperanto krudaĵo
- krudaĵomaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Finnish raaka-aine, raaka-aine
- raaka-ainematerial in its unprocessed, natural state
- raaka-aineinput to an installation which processes it
French matière première
- matière premièrematerial in its unprocessed, natural state
German Rohstoff, Grundstoff
- Rohstoffmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- Grundstoffmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Hindi कच्ची सामग्री, कच्ची सामग्री
- कच्ची सामग्री (kaccī sāmagrī)material in its unprocessed, natural state
- कच्ची सामग्री (kaccī sāmagrī)input to an installation which processes it
Hungarian nyersanyag
- nyersanyagmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Icelandic hráefni
- hráefnimaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Irish amhábhar, bunábhar
- amhábharmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- bunábharmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- amh-input to an installation which processes it
Italian materia prima, materia prima
- materia primamaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- materia primainput to an installation which processes it
Japanese 原料
- 原料 (genryō)material in its unprocessed, natural state
Korean 원료
- 원료 (wollyo)material in its unprocessed, natural state
Latvian izejviela, izejmateriāls
- izejvielamaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- izejmateriālsmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Māori rawa taketake
- rawa taketakematerial in its unprocessed, natural state
Norwegian Bokmål råmateriale, råmaterial
- råmaterialematerial in its unprocessed, natural state
- råmaterialmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- råstoffmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Polish surowiec, surowiec
- surowiecmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- surowiecinput to an installation which processes it
Portuguese matéria-prima, matéria-prima
- matéria-primamaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- matéria-primainput to an installation which processes it
Romanian materie primă
- materie primămaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Russian сырьё, необрабо́танный материа́л
- сырьё (syrʹjó)material in its unprocessed, natural state
- необрабо́танный материа́л (neobrabótannyj materiál)material in its unprocessed, natural state
Slovak surovina
- surovinamaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Spanish materia prima
- materia primamaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Swedish råvara, råmaterial
- råvaramaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- råmaterialmaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
- råvarainput to an installation which processes it
- råmaterialinput to an installation which processes it
Thai วัตถุดิบ, วัตถุดิบ
- วัตถุดิบ (wát-tù-dìp)material in its unprocessed, natural state
- วัตถุดิบ (wát-tù-dìp)input to an installation which processes it
Turkish ham madde
- ham maddematerial in its unprocessed, natural state
Ukrainian сировина́
- сировина́ (syrovyná)material in its unprocessed, natural state
Vietnamese nguyên liệu
- nguyên liệumaterial in its unprocessed, natural state
Cite this entry
raw material. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/raw%20material
“raw material.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/raw%20material. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “raw material,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/raw%20material.
Source: raw material on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.